Page 76 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

74 BAROQUE OPERA IN ENGLAND

IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Baroque opera in England
BEFORE
1617 Lovers Made Men, a
masque by Ben Jonson, is set
to music by Nicholas Lanier in
the Italian recitative style.
1656 The Siege of Rhodes, by
five composers, is considered
the first English opera, but is
called “recitative music” to
avoid the Puritan ban on plays.

c. 1683 John Blow’s Venus
and Adonis is premiered at he greatness of Dido and Puritans show disdain for the
Charles II’s court. Aeneas by Henry Purcell flamboyantly dressed Cavaliers in a
1685 Albion and Albanius, T (1659–1695) lies in the 17th-century tavern scene. Cromwell
closed many inns and theatres, which
with a libretto by John Dryden perfection of its characterization he called bastions of “lascivious mirth.”
and musical depth. Although
set to music by Louis Grabu, is conceived on a miniature scale, it
the earliest full-length English is the most significant early English tradition could develop, due to the
opera to survive in its entirety.
opera and a masterpiece of the exile of the future King Charles II
AFTER entire Baroque musical era. following the defeat of the Cavaliers
1705 Jakob Greber’s Gli amori In the late 17th century, when (Royalists) in the English Civil War
d’Ergasto is the first Italian Dido and Aeneas was composed, (1642–1651) and the establishment
opera produced in London. opera was still in its infancy in of a Protectorate under the rule of
England. It had evolved in Florence the Puritan Oliver Cromwell. During
1711 Handel premieres the in the 1590s from a form of private this period, English composers
Italian opera Rinaldo, his first entertainment organized by groups were often not exposed to foreign
work for the London stage. of artists and musicians known as influences and their music tended
“academies” (see pp.62–63). From to retain a strong national identity.
there, it had spread throughout Italy Forms such as the verse anthem,
with performances in one or other in which solo voices and choir sang
of the many small courts. Only in alternate verses, were favored in
1637, with the opening of the Teatro Anglican liturgy. Secular music
di San Cassiano in Venice, was included “catches”—simple, often
opera performed for a wider public. bawdy rounds or canons, usually
Dido and Aeneas is The new genre had reached sung in taverns—which had no
one of the most original Germany by this time and France direct continental equivalents.
expressions of genius by the 1640s, quickly taking root
in all opera. in both countries. A mysterious genesis
Gustav Holst In England, opera advanced The Restoration of the monarchy
more slowly, partly because of a under Charles II in 1660 brought
prejudice against sung drama in a England closer to Europe and its
country where spoken drama was musical repertoire. This would have
dominant. England also lacked a influenced Purcell as he developed
royal court around which operatic his skills composing masterly

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